Catherine Lin

'Princess'

Played by: Michelle

INFORMATION

Bee, Female, 21

Aliases: Cate
Nationality: American
Residence: New York, NY
Employer: CLASSIFIED
Function: CLASSIFIED
Twitter: @mscatelin

• Introduction •

• Basic Information •

• Psychological Profile •

• Proficiencies •

• Weapons and Combat Technique •

• Miscellaneous Odds and Ends •

Catherine Lin? What's so special about her? There are lots of twenty-something girls like her all over the city. You see one, you've seen 'em all—the fast fashion clothes, the ridiculous lattes, the ever-present cell phone in a colorful case, and the always-in-a-hurry strut. Oh, and she's all over social media, and it's one millennial cliché after another—hashtag-squad, hashtag-relationship-goals, selfies, food porn, emojis all over the damn place. It's so cute, it's painful.

Or at least that's what she wants you to see. Keep your eyes open, and you'll see that there's something a little off about her, a hint that there's something sinister hidden beneath that cheery exterior. You know what they say. Beware the nice ones—they're the ones who surprise you.

Basic Information

Born: 30 April 1996, Hong Kong
Gender: Female
Height: 5'2" (157 cm)
Weight: 100 lbs (45 kg)
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Nationality: American (US/UK dual citizen)

Psychological Profile

Hardly anyone calls her by her given name. She's collected a number of alternate appellations, but the most popular is Cate. Like the young woman it belongs to, the name is short, charming, and subtly distinctive.

"Charm" is the key word here. She craves human connection and purposely developed a number of skills necessarily for cultivating it. Over time, and with a considerable amount of practice, she has all but mastered the art of gentle persuasion. She knows how to attract just the right amount of attention—not too much, not too little—and knows how to hold it. Even just a few minutes into a conversation, she can make a stranger feel like a beloved long-time friend. Given this, it's unsurprising how easily she can convince someone to give her whatever she needs or wants. Better yet, she often convinces others that it was their idea.

She accomplishes this in a number of ways, using her innate understanding of human psychology. First, she's adopted a relaxed and approachable demeanor. She's careful to use inviting and welcoming body language. Her face and gestures are highly expressive and animated, making her extremely easy to read and encouraging fast familiarity. She's also quick to share a smile, generous with compliments, easy with laughter, and constantly sharp-witted. As much as possible, she listens intently, taking a genuine interest in what others have to say. It's no wonder she's considered the life of the party, or at the very least, a prominent presence.

However, despite an easy affability that strongly suggests extroversion, she can sometimes revert to the introversion of her childhood and adolescent years. When necessary, for the sake of mental health and/or safety, she can close herself off completely. It can be a jarring transition to a witness caught unaware.

Certain topics of conversation or external stimuli will trigger this status shift immediately. Most of these triggers are common to others, but some of them are unique to her. For example, she's extremely reluctant to discuss details of her childhood and early education. Most mentions of her family are met with indifference or outright hostility. Discussions of money and/or gratuitous displays of wealth tend to elicit annoyance and derision.

Some individuals, especially those gifted with enhanced empathetic abilities, may sense profound rage buried underneath her pleasant façade. She goes to great lengths to hide it and keep it in check, but it's only a matter of time before something brings it to the surface.

Proficiencies

As a Gaia-gifted individual (otherwise known as a "bee"), Cate possesses rapid healing, emergency dematerialization/rematerialization, and the ability to channel anima. However, due to unknown factors, the effects are diminished in her case. Therefore, compared to her peers, it can take up to twice as long to recover from illness, injuries, and chemically-induced effects (such as drugs and poisons).

She possesses a sharply honed mind, and most of her proficiencies stem from that. She often falls in the genius range on intelligence tests (150 on the Stanford–Binet scale, for example), but typically downplays this. In addition to her aforementioned persuasive abilities, she's widely regarded as a tech expert, highly skilled with computers and numerous other types of electronic devices. Though extremely knowledgeable in the field of information security and skilled at system intrusion, she tends to eschew the "hacker" label, as she's not fond of the negative connotations attached to it. If asked, she tends to refer to herself simply as a consultant or an enthusiast.

Thanks to a stint as a master thief, she's also capable of quiet movement, free running, scouting, forced entry techniques (such as lock picking), pickpocketing, detection evasion, and silent takedowns (both lethal and non-lethal). She has internalized these abilities to the extent that even her normal everyday walk goes undetected by all but the most alert. She also maintains a high level of situational awareness at all times.

Last but not least, she employs anima-assisted mental compartmentalization. She actively enforces strict divisions within her mind—for example, between her work and personal lives. Particularly tragic and/or uncomfortable memories are pushed to the far recesses of her subconscious mind and sealed off, minimizing short-term emotional trauma. However, from time to time, these barriers have been known to falter. This generally results in an incapacitating nervous breakdown that lasts for several days.

Her compartmentalization technique confers an intriguing side benefit—near-immunity to mind-reading and psionic attacks. Her robust mental defenses can injure or even kill an individual who insists on pressing too far.

Weapons and Combat Technique

Due to her lack of physical strength and robustness relative to her peers, she prefers to evade and flank her opponents, and she attempts to catch them unaware whenever possible. As part of this overall strategy, she has mastered a technique known as "blinking", a sudden burst of speed that moves her almost instantly between one point and another up to five yards away. This may confuse and disorient some opponents, as it grants the illusion of teleportation without the use of magic.

Whenever possible, she avoids the use of deadly weapons. If pressed, she's a decent shot with her suppressed Glock 19 pistol, though accuracy begins to drop at 25 yards and plummets significantly at distances exceeding 50 yards. Performance with higher-caliber sidearms, SMGs, and rifles is mixed at best due to her inability to compensate for high recoil.

She has dabbled with other weapon types and combat methods. Most notably, she trained in elemental magic for a time, though largely abandoned it due to its incompatibility with her preferred stealth approach. Nevertheless, on occasion, she's been known to toss a fireball or two. She's also received patchwork hand-to-hand combat training from a number of instructors, rarely progressing beyond the basics in any given school. The result is a fighting style that's uniquely hers, a greatest-hits mix of techniques from various martial arts.

Miscellaneous Odds and Ends

• Her position within the Illuminati? Classified. Division? Classified. Handler? Classified. Service history? You guessed it, classified. Don't bother asking either, even if you're Team Blue. Even the higher-ups need special authorization to access this information, Kirsten Geary included.
• Most characters aren't going to ICly know most of the things written here, especially about her special abilities. Even her closest friends are privy to 10% of this information at most, and that's how she prefers it.
• She doesn't have a fixed call sign. It changes with every mission.
• Like most Illuminati agents, she possesses a company credit card. However, hers is a prestigious black card, whereas other agents of similar rank and seniority are typically issued platinum cards or below. This tends to raise eyebrows.
• She has no tracking implant (grafted to her spine or otherwise). It was removed for a deep-cover assignment and never replaced. However, she is actively monitored by other means at all times.
• English is the only language she speaks fluently. However, she knows a few key words and phrases in Spanish and French.
• Her sexuality may be accurately described as bisexual or pansexual. More often than not, she identifies herself simply as "out and proud queer".
• Her FC is the lovely Jessica Lu.